Roots by the River

"His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit" (Ephesians 2:15-18). From this we find out there were two kinds of people in the world, both kinds estranged from God and from each other: Gentiles and Jews. Both kinds were sinners—sinners far away and sinners close at hand. They both needed reconciling to God through the cross. The cross put to death their hostility. Jesus Christ is our peace. He preached peace to both and died for both. Now we have three kinds of people in the world: Jews, Gentiles and the church of God (1 Corinthians 10:32).   Written June 1992. This post coordinates with today's reading in the To the Word! Bible Reading Challenge . If you are not in ...

"Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel, for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God's word is not chained. Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory” (2 Timothy 2:8-10). Paul says that he is suffering for two reasons: for the gospel, and for the sake of the elect. In the middle of this, we find that “God’s word is not chained.” Isn’t that a glorious statement?   Written November 1985. This post coordinates with tomorrow's reading in the To the Word! Bible Reading Challenge . If you are not in a daily reading plan, please join us at TotheWord.com . We would love to have you reading with us.

"I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me faithful, appointing me to his service. Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life. Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen” (1 Timothy 1:12-17). Notice that Paul was a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a violent man. We are quite sure that he was not an adulterer, or thief, or liar. He would have said so. He did ...

"Of making many books there is no end" (Ecclesiastes 12:12). A serious temptation accompanies the widespread availability of Christian books, blogs, and podcasts. Because so many Christian books have been written about a multitude of subjects, it is far too easy to turn to a Christian book before opening the Bible. Books written by Christians are profitable only when they are approached as a supplementary , not primary, source of guidance. True godliness is cultivated in those who labor in the Scriptures, for there we find the Lord's counsel (2 Tim. 2:15, 3:15-17). Luke commends the saints in Berea who measured the teaching of Paul and Silas against the Word of God: "These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily do find out whether these things were so" (Acts 17:11). The Bereans are a good example to all of us who desire to pattern our lives according to God's ...

“Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:5-7). At different times in my life, this paragraph has had both immediate and long-term results. As I look at it again today,* every word seems to be charged. Here are a few words from the paragraph to focus on to aid your study and your meditation: gentleness; anxious; thanksgiving; transcends; guard. I think you will find this method of study and meditation—concentrating on certain word—to be a major help in your Christian life.   *Written October 1988. This post coordinates with tomorrow's reading in the To the Word! Bible Reading Challenge . If you are not in a daily reading plan, please join us at TotheWord.com . We would love to have you reading with us.

Restitution is for people under grace. Here’s why. Suppose I am not a Christian and am short of money. So I go into the First National Bank and hold it up. I put $100,000 in my bag and walk down the street. I come to a park where there is open-air preaching going on. There is singing, testifying, and preaching, and a crowd of people listening. I join the crowd. I am convicted of sin and call on the Lord.  After the meeting, I go up to the preacher and say, “I did what you said. I prayed to God. I feel wonderful! What does that mean?” The preacher says, “That means you have been born again.” “What does that mean?” “It means your sins have been forgiven.” “Oh,” I say. “How many?” “All of them!” “All of them?” “Yes, all of them.” “Oh boy,” I reply. “Now I can enjoy this $100,000.” “What $100,000?” “In my bag. I just relieved the bank of some extra money.” The preacher looks at me. “Let’s take it back.” “What do you mean, ‘Take it back’? You just told me I’ve b...

“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us" (Romans 5:1-5). This is a paragraph of causes and effects. There is another list of causes and effects in Romans 10, where the list is given in rhetorical questions. "How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, 'How beautiful are the feet of those who ...

“Or do you show contempt for the riches of His kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward repentance?" (Rom. 2:4). That is an understatement; men do not realize the connection between kindness and repentance. In this culture, we think of repentance responding to a harsh message, not a kind one. Notice the correlation in 2 Timothy 2:24-25: “And the Lord’s servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone , able to teach, not resentful. Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance, leading them to a knowledge of the truth.”   Written September 1985. This post coordinates with tomorrow's reading in the To the Word! Bible Reading Challenge . If you are not in a daily reading plan, please join us at TotheWord.com . We would love to have you reading with us.

"He who is estranged seeks pretexts to break out against all sound judgment. A fool takes no pleasure in understanding but only in expressing his opinion” (Proverbs 18:1-2). When I am estranged or separated from the Lord in fellowship, the last thing I want to hear is sound judgment. I will barricade myself against it. But since I cannot barricade against sound judgment with sound judgment, I must do it with pretexts—shallow, surface, weak things which deceive only me. It is my attempt to stay estranged. If the searchlight of sound judgment breaks into my hideout, I find myself confessing, forsaking, and no longer estranged but restored to the Lord. During my estrangement, I take no pleasure in understanding, but I am very eager to express my opinion. After I am back in fellowship, I am amazed how stupid I was with my opinions. How I regret my big mouth. Truly it is foolish.   Written January 1986. This post coordinates with today's reading in the To the Word! Bible R...

Is restitution also required in the New Testament? Yes. Zacchaeus returned fourfold to the people he had cheated. Restitution is repentance in action . Repentance is more than just a word. “Jesus said to him, ‘Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost’” (Luke 19:9-10). David knew this truth when he responded to Nathan’s story of the rich man who stole his poor neighbor’s pet lamb to feed his guest: “David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, the man who did this deserves to die! He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity’” (2 Samuel 12:5-6). What if we cannot find the person we stole from? “The LORD said to Moses, ‘Say to the Israelites: “When a man or woman wrongs another in any way and so is unfaithful to the LORD, that person is guilty and must confess the sin he has committed. He must m...

In 1932 when I was in kindergarten, I was walking home with a friend after school one day, and he told me that he would teach me how to steal a cookie. He was to stop at the corner store on the way home to buy a pound of hamburger. When he ordered the hamburger, the owner of the store would go to the back room to grind and wrap it. While the owner was doing that, my friend would go to the cookie display and open a small glass door over a bin of cookies. He would remove two chocolate marshmallow cookies, give one to me, and put the other in his own pocket. He would pay the merchant for the hamburger, and we would leave the store. Sure enough, it went just as planned. The corner store was two blocks from my home. In the first block, each of us ate our cookie. In the second block, I could feel the chocolate and marshmallow around my mouth. I licked my lips and rubbed my face. I knew my mother would see my mouth and ask where I got the chocolate. Well, she did not ask. Fifteen years la...

“For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach his statutes and ordinances in Israel” (Ezra 7:10). Notice three things: study, do, teach. In the Christian church, we have studiers and teachers. We can study and acquire information. We can teach and impart information. We can get As on our knowledge. The strong point of the three is the doing . Doing validates the studying and validates the teaching. Teaching biblically is not just imparting information. The neglected phrase in the Great Commission is the one on teaching: “teaching them to do all that I have commanded you" (Matthew 28:20). Jesus gave the commands. We do not command. We teach obedience to His commands. We are not to teach information without teaching obedience. If we are to follow Ezra's example, we are to study, obey, and teach to obey.   Written February 1989. This post coordinates with tomorrow's reading in the To the Word! Bible Reading Challenge . If you ...

Repentance is turning from evil and turning to God. “Turn now, each of you, from your evil ways and your evil practices, and you can stay in the land the LORD gave to you and your fathers for ever and ever” (Jeremiah 25:5). “When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened” (Jonah 3:10). “I preached that they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds” (Acts 26:20b). “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord” (Acts 3:19). “I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus” (Acts 20:21). Repentance is caused by the kindness of God and godly sorrow. “Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance?” (Romans 2:4). “G...

Repent was a favorite word of the prophets. Preaching repentance was the major task of John the Baptist. “In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea and saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near’” (Matthew 3:1-2). “From that time on Jesus began to preach, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near’” (Matthew 4:17). The Apostle Paul also emphasized repentance: “In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:30). “First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and to the Gentiles also, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds” (Acts 26:20). In Revelation, the Apostle John stated that “the rest of mankind that were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or...

1 Chronicles 28 records David's charge to his son Solomon. It is great! “And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with whole-hearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever” (v. 9). Notice that the reason for whole-hearted devotion is that the Lord searches every heart , and the reason for a willing mind is that the Lord understands every motive behind the thoughts .   Written March 1985. This post coordinates with tomorrow's reading in the To the Word! Bible Reading Challenge . If you are not in a daily reading plan, please join us at TotheWord.com . We would love to have you reading with us.

The Christian church as we know it started at Pentecost about two months after Jesus rose from the dead. There were three thousand new members that day. The last few words they heard before they passed from death to life were these: “Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Men and brethren, what shall we do?’ Then Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.’ And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, ‘Be saved from this perverse generation’” (Acts 2:37-40). The first of these final words was repent . One chapter later, another two thousand people were added to the church. A key sentence in that message was “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins ma...

“He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it ” (Titus 1:9). This sentence is a part of the qualifications of an elder in a church in a town in Crete. The elder is to encourage and refute. In order to do this properly, the elders must hold firmly to the message. We find other qualifications in 1 Timothy 3:2, like "gentle" and "not quarrelsome." The reason I bring this up is the requirement to refute the opposition and yet not be quarrelsome. We see a statement in 2 Timothy 2:4 which confirms this teaching: "and the Lord's servant must not quarrel; instead he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. Those who oppose him, he must gently instruct.” There is increasing opposition today to sound doctrine and to Christians. Christians must refute those in opposition, but they must do it gently , kindly , and without quarreling .   ...

This is written for Christians who are perfectionists and have lost their joy. First, perfectionists are created. They do not get there by training. If they did, I should now be a perfectionist: I went to a college run by perfectionists, a military college—U.S. Naval Academy. The Academy had four years to make me a perfectionist and did not succeed. I was born something else. Second, it is a good thing that God made perfectionists and many of them. As a result, all man-made erected things from houses to airplanes are put together right. Third, problems occur. Students in university dorms are put together in the same room. One of them is a perfectionist. The other is a slob. Both of them were born that way. One of the two is unhappy. Which one? Fourth, perfectionist standards are not virtues. Unfortunately, some perfectionists think they are. Fifth, besides all of the good qualities of a perfectionist, there are difficulties that he is not aware of, or if he is he does not kn...

“‘The days are coming,’ declares the Sovereign Lord, ‘when I will send a famine through the land—not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord. Men will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east, searching for the word of the Lord, but they will not find it’” (Amos 8:11-12). I have no idea whether this prophecy has ever been fulfilled in any specific sense, i.e., time and place in history. It may have been fulfilled fifty years after Amos when the Northern Kingdom was destroyed. The Southern Kingdom had two revivals, both related to reading the Scriptures. One under Josiah (2 Chronicles 34:14-33) and the other under Ezra (Nehemiah 8). The famine today is not in the unavailability of Scripture. In Josiah’s day, there was only one copy, and it had not been looked at for several generations. We have the Scriptures, and we do not read them daily. There is spiritual decay in the land.   Written September 1988. This post c...

  How I love Thy law, O Lord Daily joy its truths afford; In its constant light I go, Wise to conquer every foe.   Thy commandments in my heart Truest wisdom can impart; To mine eyes Thy precepts show Wisdom more than sages know.   While my heart Thy word obeys, I am kept from evil ways; From Thy law, with Thee to guide, I have never turned aside.   Sweeter are Thy words to me Than all other good can be; Safe I walk, Thy truth my light Hating falsehood, loving right.              - A favorite of Jim's from the Scottish Psalter